Eurobites: VMO2 is bringing a COW to a UK festival near youEurobites: VMO2 is bringing a COW to a UK festival near you

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Tele2 results; Vodafone UK has a plan to tackle its carbon footprint; Vodafone Spain has a new CEO.

Tereza Krásová, Associate Editor

July 17, 2024

3 Min Read
Cows
These cows probably won't boost 5G coverage, but a cell on wheels (COW) might.(Source: Stijn te Strake/Unsplash)
  • This summer, Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) will be connecting areas experiencing seasonal surges in demand with its COWs. That is cells on wheels, not the methane-belching creatures essential to making a cheeseburger. (Hungry? – Eds.) The UK operator will herd its COWs to 29 events and 12 popular "staycation" destinations. This year, the infrastructure will be greener than before, says VMO2, because it will be powered by hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO). It claims this will save roughly 300 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent – or around 52 thousand cheeseburgers' worth, Light Reading has established.

  • José Miguel García has been appointed CEO of Vodafone Spain, which was recently acquired by Zegona. García has experience with leading companies through transitions – he has previously served as CEO of Euskaltel, where he oversaw a restructuring of the company before it was sold to MásMóvil. He also oversaw a transformation at Jazztel as its CEO, which was sold to Orange during his tenure. Do we sense a theme? 

  • Swedish operator Tele2 has published its second-quarter results, reporting a revenue of SEK7.3 billion (US$694 million), up by 1% year-over-year. Its EBITDAaL (earnings before intererest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and after leases) rose by 3% organically to SEK2.6 billion ($247 million) on end-user service revenue growth, which increased by 4% to SEK 5.5 billion ($523 million). The company, which is also present in the Baltics, hailed this as the thirteenth consecutive quarter of topline growth. 

  • Spanish wholesale operator Aire Networks has gone shopping at Nokia, which it has tapped to deliver equipment including voice core, packet core, subscriber data management system, policy control and signalling. Aire Networks has also opted for Nokia's MantaRay network-management tool for network consolidation and automation. 

  • Ukraine's largest operator Kyivstar will add 848 stationary industrial generators and 61,766 new batteries to its stock as it continues to cope with considerable supply disruptions brought on by Russian attacks on the country's infrastructure. The new equipment is on top of 2,322 generators and 115,000 four-hour batteries already in place. In prepared remarks, CEO Oleksandr Komarov said "the changing nature of threats to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and extended blackouts now necessitate a reinforcement in our strategy." The company has already spent $24 million on its energy infrastructure before the latest announcement. (See also: Kyivstar to invest $1B while keeping Ukraine connected.)

  • Vodafone UK has unveiled a carbon reduction plan to 2027. By that year, it seeks to reach net-zero in Scope 1 and 2 emissions – those arising directly from the operator's actions – as part of the group's drive to reach net-zero globally by 2040. The operator admits, meanwhile, that cutting carbon in its supply chain to trim Scope 3 remains a challenge. It has added a 20% weighting for environmental and social criteria as part of the supplier evaluation process, and will secure external assurance for Scope 3 emissions from 2024 onwards as part of its efforts in this area. 

  • And just when it looked like the news couldn't get any scarier, scientists warn the climate crisis might be coming for our Internet. Mass melting of polar ice, they say, makes the days longer by milliseconds. So while that doesn't make any more time for yoga, learning a new language or, let's face it, binge-watching television, it could potentially mess with data centers, which rely on precise timing to function correctly. Presumably, mother Earth is giving humanity more time to think about what we've done.

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Europe

About the Author

Tereza Krásová

Associate Editor, Light Reading

Associate Editor, Light Reading

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